When building a membership site, if at all possible, you should include a forum function. The forum provides members with a place to discuss issues relating to your niche, brainstorm ideas, and form relationships. It adds a personal feel to your website. Forums help the membership site owner in many ways. They allow you to interact with your customers, building a personal web presence. They keep members coming to your site on a frequent basis to check in, and they allow these same members to share ideas.

Put a personal face on your site

By using your forum to build a personal web presence, you are putting a face with your name. You become more than just a signature at the end of a sales letter. Your forum allows you, the administrator, to put up a picture of yourself, and add your face and ideas to the fray. You showcase yourself as a real, live individual with opinions and information to add to the discussions.

Community builds continuity

Your forum can also help remind members what they pay for each month. Members who participate frequently in the site’s forum are more likely to see it as a source of information and continue to subscribe each month. Some of them may never post, but gain lots of information simply by lurking in the forum. This information, as well as the relationships they build, can often be enough to keep them from hitting the unsubscribe button.

Idea sharing, relationship building

Forums also allow your members to share ideas in a personal setting. They can interact with other people who care about the same things they do. They develop a personal attachment with other members, and will often check in each day to see how a thread in the forum is developing. This social aspect of human nature can be very marketable – be sure you’re capitalizing on it!

By adding a forum to your membership site, you’re adding a social aspect as well. You’re making your site more personable. You are putting a face with your name and brand. In the process, you’re reminding members why they’ve chosen to be members. You’re giving them valuable information, as well as a chance to share their ideas with other like-minded individuals. How can you afford NOT to have a forum on your membership site?